Question 49·Easy·Probability and Conditional Probability
A classroom survey recorded each student’s favorite household pet.
| Pet type | Number of students |
|---|---|
| Dog | 12 |
| Cat | 9 |
| Rabbit | 4 |
| Hamster | 5 |
If one of the 30 students who took the survey is chosen at random, what is the probability that the student chose cat as their favorite pet?
For basic probability questions with tables, quickly (1) add the table entries to confirm the total, (2) pick out the count that matches the event asked about (here, “cat”), (3) form the fraction favorable/total, and (4) convert it to whatever form the answers use (fraction, decimal, or percent). Double-check that you didn’t ignore any row in the table when finding the total, since that’s a common source of errors.
Hints
Find the total number of students
Add the numbers in the table (dog, cat, rabbit, hamster) to confirm how many students took the survey.
Focus on the pet type asked about
Look at the row labeled Cat. How many students chose cat as their favorite pet?
Use the probability formula
Probability of an event is . Write that fraction for this situation, then convert your fraction to a decimal to match the answer choices.
Desmos Guide
Compute the probability as a decimal
In Desmos, type 9/30 and look at the decimal value it gives. Then match that decimal to one of the answer choices.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the total number of students
From the table, add all the students to confirm the total:
So there are students in total, which matches what the problem says.
Identify the number of favorable outcomes
We want the probability that a student chose cat as their favorite pet.
From the table, the number of students who chose cat is .
Write the probability as a fraction
Probability is
Now simplify this fraction by dividing numerator and denominator by :
Convert the fraction to a decimal and choose the answer
The fraction is equal to , which can be written as .
So the probability that a randomly chosen student picked cat is , which corresponds to answer choice B) 0.30.